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Alexander Mackenzie PC (January 28, 1822 – April 17, 1892) was a Canadian politician who served as the second prime minister of Canada, in office from 1873 to 1878. Mackenzie was born in Logierait, Perthshire, Scotland. He left school at the age of 13, following his father's death, to help his widowed mother, and trained as a stonemason.
Alexander Mackenzie (born January 28, 1822, Logierait, Perthshire, Scotland—died April 17, 1892, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) was a Scottish-born politician who was the first Liberal prime minister of Canada (1873–78).
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Alexander Mackenzie was born in Scotland on 28 January 1822, one of 10 sons born to Alexander Mackenzie and Mary Stewart Fleming. His father was a carpenter who experienced periods of both prosperity and unemployment. When his father died in 1836 at age 52, his older sons went to work to support the family, including the younger Alexander, who appr...
Mackenzie became involved in colonial politics soon after arriving in Canada West. The egalitarian, anti-establishment Reform movement appealed to him, and he actively helped organize the election of Reformer George Brown to the legislative assembly of the Province of Canada in 1851. In the early 1850s, Mackenzie also became editor of a Reform news...
Although he did not actively seek the office, Mackenzie was well known and respected enough that in March 1873 he was named leader of the Liberal opposition. In November that year, he formed the first federal Liberal administration in Canada after Sir John A. Macdonald’s government was brought down by the Pacific Scandal. Almost immediately after f...
Mackenzie remained leader of his party for another 19 months, until failing health and a threatened party revolt led him to step down in favour of Edward Blake. He would, however, hold onto a seat in the Commons until his death. Loyal to his working-class sensibility, he refused several offers of a knighthood from Britain. During his life he wrote ...
One of the only Canadian prime ministers who never worked as a lawyer, stone-mason Alexander Mackenzie is usually remembered as an honest, honourable guy who was nevertheless completely ill-suited for the rough-and-tumble world of 19th century Canadian politics.
Alexander Mackenzie rose from humble beginnings to become Canada’s second Prime Minister. He was born on January 28, 1822, at Logierait in Perthshire, Scotland, the third of ten brothers. He started working full-time at age 13 after the death of his father and trained as a stonemason.
Mackenzie stood for election to the House of Commons of Canada eight times, in 1867, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1878, 1882, 1887 and 1891, including one ministerial by-election on becoming prime minister in 1873. He was undefeated at the constituency level throughout his parliamentary career.
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Alexander Mackenzie PC (January 28, 1822 – April 17, 1892) was a Canadian politician who served as the second prime minister of Canada, in office from 1873 to 1878.
